The Busch-Sulzer Bros. Diesel Engine Company was founded by

Adolphus Busch Adolphus Busch (10 July 1839 – 10 October 1913) was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early ...

of the

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

brewing company in 1911 as a joint venture with

Sulzer Brothers Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. (Gebrüder Sulzer) in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly traded company w ...

of Switzerland. The company manufactured

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s until 1946. In 1897, Adolphus Busch acquired rights to build diesel engines in the United States, with

Rudolph Diesel Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (, ; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who is famous for having invented the diesel engine, which burns diesel fuel; both are named after him. Early life and educatio ...

as a consultant. The first companies resulting from this were the Diesel Motor Company (1898–1902) of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and the American Diesel Engine Company (1902–1911), which relocated to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in 1908 and was succeeded by Busch-Sulzer. Although Busch acquired the rights to build Sulzer designs with the formation of Busch-Sulzer, the American joint venture preferred its own designs. The first submarines with Busch-Sulzer engines were the

United States L-class submarine The United States L-class submarines were a class of 11 submarines built 1914–1917, and were the United States Navy's first attempt at designing and building ocean-going submarines. At the time there was a significant gap in long-range submari ...

s L-5 through L-8, designed by the

Lake Torpedo Boat The Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was an early builder of submarines for the United States Navy in the early 20th century. History Founded by Simon Lake in 1912, the company was located at the east end of Seaview Avenue ...

Company and launched 1916–17. Busch-Sulzer continued to produce engines for the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and other customers through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, after which its assets were sold to the

Nordberg Manufacturing Company Nordberg Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, large diesel engines, pumps, hoists and compressors for the mining and quarry industries located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History The company was founded by Bruno V. Nordberg a ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

.Krebs, Roland and Orthwein, Percy
''Making Friends is Our Business: 100 Years of Anheuser-Busch''
Anheuser-Busch, 1952. Ch. 26. Then-Lieutenant (and future Admiral)

Chester W. Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in C ...

studied Diesel engines in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

for the United States Navy in 1913. Busch-Sulzer tried to hire him, but he turned them down.

References

Busch-Sulzer-powered locomotives in the US
Manufacturing companies established in 1911 1911 establishments in Missouri Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1946 1946 disestablishments in Missouri Defunct manufacturing companies based in Missouri {{US-manufacturing-company-stub